IDC will once again partner with Senate GOP

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2016, file photo, State Senators Jeff Klein, center, and Diane Savino, left, are joined by local residents during a news conference to announce a legislative housing code proposal for Airbnb in New York. A new law that carries fines of up to $7,500 for certain kinds of short-term listings is causing headaches for many Airbnb hosts, who say they are getting unfairly swept up in a measure that's more aimed mostly at commercial operators who turn multiple apartments into, essentially, illegal hotels. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) ORG XMIT: NYBM101 less

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2016, file photo, State Senators Jeff Klein, center, and Diane Savino, left, are joined by local residents during a news conference to announce a legislative housing code proposal for ... more

Photo: Bebeto Matthews

Photo: Bebeto Matthews

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FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2016, file photo, State Senators Jeff Klein, center, and Diane Savino, left, are joined by local residents during a news conference to announce a legislative housing code proposal for Airbnb in New York. A new law that carries fines of up to $7,500 for certain kinds of short-term listings is causing headaches for many Airbnb hosts, who say they are getting unfairly swept up in a measure that's more aimed mostly at commercial operators who turn multiple apartments into, essentially, illegal hotels. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) ORG XMIT: NYBM101 less

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2016, file photo, State Senators Jeff Klein, center, and Diane Savino, left, are joined by local residents during a news conference to announce a legislative housing code proposal for ... more

Photo: Bebeto Matthews

IDC will once again partner with Senate GOP

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Albany

Bowing to the state Senate's unique math and the desire to remain relevant in pushing their agenda, the members of the Independent Democratic Conference will once again partner with Republicans who narrowly control the chamber.

IDC leader Jeff Klein announced the renewed partnership in an interview published in Monday's edition of the New York Daily News.

Senate GOP Leader John Flanagan released a statement Tuesday morning cheering the news: "New Yorkers want Democrats and Republicans to work together to get results, and that's exactly what we've done over the last six years in partnership with Sen. Klein and members of the Independent Democratic Conference," Flanagan said.

The IDC was created with four charter members in 2011 after Democrats lost their two-year-old majority. When the GOP failed to elect a majority in 2012, a coalition was formed with the IDC — eliciting howls of protest from mainline Democrats. In 2014, the GOP reclaimed a free-standing majority but maintained the partnership with Klein under amended terms that reduced his power.

Klein's decision follows several weeks in which the chamber's mainline Democratic conference pushed Gov. Andrew Cuomo to involve himself in helping to unify the 24-member mainline conference, the seven-member IDC and Brooklyn's Simcha Felder, who though elected as a Democrat in 2012 has consistently caucused with the GOP. Stitched together, that would give Democrats a bare majority in the 63-seat chamber.

Although Cuomo had campaigned for mainline Democratic Senate candidates before November's election, the governor showed no interest in getting involved in what he cast as an internal legislative feud.

Bill Lipton, state director of the progressive Working Families Party, on Monday called Cuomo's refusal to push for a unified Democratic conference "a stark reminder that despite his accomplishments, he remains deeply committed to a fiscal policy and agenda supported by his billionaire donors at the expense of working families."

Lipton said the IDC's members "will be utterly discredited in their districts if they prop up a Republican majority that is unwilling to block (President-elect Donald Trump and instead will seek to further his agenda in New York."

But Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union and a major Cuomo ally, said in a statement that the IDC's announcement "instills confidence ... that working families will have a strong voice in the New York State Senate, even if we were unable to achieve a Democratic majority. We need Democrats to advance priorities like jobs with higher wages, quality child care and protections for workers. We look forward to working with the IDC this year."

Being able to count on the IDC gives the Republican conference breathing room for votes that might be difficult for some of its members. It also guarantees a functional chamber in the event that all 32 members of the GOP-plus-Felder conference can't be in the Senate on a given day.